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February 2017
Learning to swim at 80
By Louise Jackson for Next Avenue Every Thursday night, I drive to the gym, wriggle into a swimsuit that does nothing to hide my bulging belly or my wrinkled, sagging underarms, put on swim goggles that Getty Images photo make me look a bit like someone from outer space, grab my. cane to help keep my balance while walking from the dressing room into the pool area and slowly ease down the steps into water smelling of chlorine. I’m 80 years old and taking a swim class for the first time in my life.
How do you go eight decades without learning to swim?
You’d think, given the description of my general appearance in one of today’s swimsuits, I’d be embarrassed to be seen at the pool. And I did think about that beforehand, but I looked around the women’s dressing room one day and realized I was in good company. People’s bodies come in all sizes and shapes and using my appearance as an excuse for opting out of an activity I really wanted to try seemed self-defeating. So, in spite of my misgivings, I paid the class fee. If you grew up near a lake or a town with a swimming pool, or your parents swam, it may surprise you to learn I’ve never taken swimming lessons. But I grew up on a small ranch in Central Texas during an extreme, extended drought and all the swimming holes became wading pools. Further, the cause of polio was yet unknown. We looked with fear at Life magazine photos showing long rows of children in iron lungs, unable to breathe on their own. The media warned parents about exposing their children to large groups in strange situations. Driving 20 miles each way, just so a child could learn to swim, was never even considered.
Swimming
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